Dear Henry, What about listening? When you set the table up using the KAB vs using the Timeline, were there any audible differences? If the KAB was that far off, on the slow side, you ought to have heard it in the form of pitch distortion and/or rhythm distortion. One would have to think that one of your two devices might indeed be defective. Either that or neither is quite accurate.
I had an interesting experience just a few days ago. When I originally set up my Lenco, I had it running at 33 rpm per the KAB strobe, with AC direct from one of my dedicated house lines. (You can adjust speed on a Lenco by moving the idler wheel up or down a tapered shaft driven by the motor.) Then I inserted my Walker Audio motor controller and had the Lenco set at exactly 33 with the Walker. Then some months later, I removed the Walker and was running direct from the wall socket again, but I had not re-checked the speed when I went back to house AC. The other day, I had an audiophile friend here listening with me to the Lenco, and he remarked that it sounded "slow"; he perceived a pitch problem. So we took out the KAB strobe again, and indeed, with the stylus in the groove, the Lenco was slow. I was embarrassed that I had not picked up on this problem. However, after he left, I realized that I had been bothered by the musical timing with the Lenco. Tempo seemed consistently "slow", but I heard no real problem with pitch. I had even wondered why Ella Fitzgerald had chosen a slow tempo for a Harold Arlen tune that I considered to be a good swing. The point is that what he perceived as a pitch problem was perceived by me as a timing problem. Obviously, tt speed affects both. I subsequently re-inserted the Walker and now all is well. The brain is a funny organ. He cannot sing to save his life, and I am a long time amateur jazz singer. You would think that I would have at least as good a sense of pitch as he does.
I had an interesting experience just a few days ago. When I originally set up my Lenco, I had it running at 33 rpm per the KAB strobe, with AC direct from one of my dedicated house lines. (You can adjust speed on a Lenco by moving the idler wheel up or down a tapered shaft driven by the motor.) Then I inserted my Walker Audio motor controller and had the Lenco set at exactly 33 with the Walker. Then some months later, I removed the Walker and was running direct from the wall socket again, but I had not re-checked the speed when I went back to house AC. The other day, I had an audiophile friend here listening with me to the Lenco, and he remarked that it sounded "slow"; he perceived a pitch problem. So we took out the KAB strobe again, and indeed, with the stylus in the groove, the Lenco was slow. I was embarrassed that I had not picked up on this problem. However, after he left, I realized that I had been bothered by the musical timing with the Lenco. Tempo seemed consistently "slow", but I heard no real problem with pitch. I had even wondered why Ella Fitzgerald had chosen a slow tempo for a Harold Arlen tune that I considered to be a good swing. The point is that what he perceived as a pitch problem was perceived by me as a timing problem. Obviously, tt speed affects both. I subsequently re-inserted the Walker and now all is well. The brain is a funny organ. He cannot sing to save his life, and I am a long time amateur jazz singer. You would think that I would have at least as good a sense of pitch as he does.